Rice grown on the surface of a shallow coal mining subsidence by Huaihe Energy Holding Group and Anhui University of Science and Technology (drone photo taken on August 22). Xinhua News Agency (photo by Chen Bin)
HEFEI, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- In a former coal mining subsidence area in southern China, a batch of trial-planted rice varieties have completed the first harvest.
On the floating field in the water, the heavy ears of rice are pulled out of the rice stalks and hang down slightly, and from time to time fish jump out of the water. What was once a silent coal mining subsidence area is now a vibrant water.
This project, which attempts to realize "rice planting on the surface of the water and fishery breeding under the water", is a planting and breeding project in the shallow water area of the coal mining surface subsidence, which is jointly completed by Huaihe Energy Holding Group and Anhui University of Science and Technology. The project is located in Guqiao Town, Fengtai County, Huainan City, Anhui Province, covering 50 acres of rice trial planting.
The first batch of trial varieties of the project has been harvested a few days ago. The expert group, including a number of academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, gave evaluation opinions on the project through field visits, listening to reports, consulting materials, and questioning and discussing: the quality of the harvested rice "meets the national standards", and the rice planting also "has an effect on improving the water quality of the trial planting area".
On June 6, the project staff was observing the growth of rice. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Xie Rui)
"This is the first rice planting project in China to be carried out on the water surface of a large area of subsidence." Cui Hongbiao, a professor at the School of Earth and Environment at Anhui University of Science and Technology, said that his team is mainly responsible for the research and development of the nutritional mechanism of rice planting.
Xie Hongxu, vice president of the China National Coal Association, said the project fills a gap in the green governance of China's coal mining subsidence areas.
As in other countries, years of coal mining have created subsidence zones in some parts of China. According to the relevant scientific research data of the National Development and Reform Commission and the estimation of experts, China's coal mining subsidence area covers an area of more than 20,000 square kilometers. In central China, where Anhui is located, the area of coal mining subsidence accounts for about 70% of the country's stock.
Xie Hongxu said that the subsidence of some coal mining surfaces has caused the destruction of buildings, roads and ecological environment on the ground, especially the flooding of some farmland, which restricts the sustainable economic and social development of mining areas.
The Huainan Coalfield, a subsidiary of Huaihe Energy Holding Group, is the largest coalfield in southeastern China. "The success of the pilot lies in the formation of non-traditional arable land resources, which helps to solve the contradiction between coal mining and arable land protection." Wang Shisen, chairman of the group, said.
On July 30, the project staff carried out field management on the water surface of the coal mining surface subsidence area. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Xie Rui)
Yuan Liang, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Anhui University of Science and Technology, believes that through the experiment, a complete set of systematic rice planting and breeding technology on the water surface of the coal mining subsidence area has been integrated for the first time, which has explored an effective way for China and the world in the field of comprehensive management of coal mining subsidence area.
According to reports, advanced technologies such as drones and water quality analyzers are used in the implementation of the project. At present, the team insists on daily observation and field management to cope with the test of pests and diseases during the heading stage. (Reporter Li Yabiao, Pan Feng)